Eye of the Tiger boss Camille Estephan has said talks are underway to match his super middleweight contender Christian Mbilli with Diego Pacheco.
Mbilli is 28-0 (23 KOs) and promoted by Eye of the Tiger who partner with Top Rank; Pacheco is 22-0 (18 KOs) and promoted by Matchroom.
The two 168-pounders would meet to determine the No. 1 challenger for IBF champion William Scull.
“It was ordered by the IBF to become mandatory, we responded to the IBF, they [Matchroom] responded to the IBF, and the fans are excited for this fight. I’m really very pleased to hear the response. The response is overwhelming from the fans. Two guys that are undefeated, both of them have very good offensive styles, they have power, they’re very promising. Mbilli, I think, is at the peak of his career. He’s ready, he’s hungry, very hungry, so we’re excited.”
No dates nor venues have been worked on, but Estephan hopes discussions will start progressing.
“To be frank, it’s new [developments]. We’ve already had a talk, so we’re in the right direction. Who knows? We’d like to do it in Quebec, obviously that’s Mbilli’s hometown, and they’d like to do it in the US. So we will see what happens.
“[A win] gets us in a position to be mandatory for the IBF title, but you know, that’s one thing. The other thing is that I’m sure it’s going to be a spectacular fight, so the winner will be in a very good position to be the official or unofficial real challenger to Canelo, so I think we have so much to gain. Both guys have so much to gain.”
Eye of the Tiger has depth at 168lbs, and in 2025 Estephan will bring back Eric Bazinyan, who will be looking to rebound from the first loss of his career, to Jaime Munguia in September.
“He gained a lot of experience,” Estephan said of the 10th round defeat. “Now he knows that he belongs [at that level]. Although he lost, some losses are better than some wins, in the sense that you always want to win but he knows he won rounds against Munguia, he didn’t have the confidence knowing he belonged there, now he does, so I think he can do a lot of damage.”
Estephan also has Osleys Iglesias, 13-0 (12 KOs), whom he refers to as “the boogeyman of the division” and who has won his last four since arriving in Canada.
“We have Imam Khataev (8-0, 8 KOS at 175lbs) fighting in December. He’s a light heavyweight and a lot of people are talking about him like he’s the next Beterbiev. We will see, but he’s super promising. He is fighting December 7. We have Albert Ramirez (19-0, 16 KOs) at 175, who is number two or three everywhere. We have a lot going on.”
He also plans on bringing back heavyweight contender Arslanbek Makmudov, off the back of defeats to Agit Kabayel and Guido Vianello in two of his last three fights. He hopes his giant heavyweight can “regain some confidence.”
Estephan said the plan was: “To put himself in camp, fix what he is missing, work on his trade and give him another fight. We’re going to give him another shot.”
And the stable is building, too, with the addition of 20-year-old Armenian lightweight prospect Erik Israyelyan.
“We’re working on something. We’re excited about a young prospect who’s going to be causing a lot of damage. We have a very good stable of young fighters, John Orobio, Wilken Mathieu… and we’re adding another of that caliber I believe, Erik Israyelyan, and we’re in the process of finalizing his paperwork to move to Canada. He’s a blue-chip prospect who will do a lot of damage.”
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